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In test of wisdom, new research favours Yoda over Spock

Wise reasoning does not necessarily require uniform emotional control or suppression, says Igor Grossmann, professor of psychology at Waterloo and lead author of the new study. Instead, wise reasoning can also benefit from a rich and balanced emotional life.


A person’s ability to reason wisely about a challenging situation may improve when they also experience diverse yet balanced emotions, say researchers from the University of Waterloo.

The finding clarifies millennia of philosophical and psychological thinking that debates how wisdom is related to the effective management of emotionally charged experiences.

Glasses on books

Muscle memory discovery ends ‘use it or lose it’ dogma

The old adage “use it or lose it” tells us: if you stop using your muscles, they’ll shrink. Until recently, scientists thought this meant that nuclei—the cell control centers that build and maintain muscle fibers—are also lost to sloth.

But according to a review published in Frontiers in Physiology, modern lab techniques now allow us to see that nuclei gained during training persist even when shrink due to disuse or start to break down. These residual ‘myonuclei’ allow more and faster growth when muscles are retrained—suggesting that we can “bank” growth potential in our teens to prevent frailty in old age. It also suggests that athletes who cheat and grow their muscles with steroids may go undetected.

This ‘Artificial Nose’ Device Can Quickly Detect Gas and Other Odors

Having a good sense of smell can help protect us from danger. Unfortunately though, humans don’t always have an efficient response to odors. However, a group of researchers aim to change that: They’ve created an “artificial nose” device that can quickly detect ammonia, gas, and sewage.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus developed a microfluidic gas detector, which can sense most odors, including noxious substances, said a UBC Okanagan press release. The team, which published their findings in Nature Scientific Reports on Jan. 17, found that this device might be helpful in detecting fumes that aren’t easily noticed by humans.

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